“One national army and six Arbaki (militiamen) were killed in the attack,” Baghlan’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told reporters by phone. Five others were wounded in the attack in Baghlan province, which took place near a polling station and an adjacent security outpost.

Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police are providing security for the poll, backed up by some 150,000 foreign troops.

Karzai, re-elected to a second term last year amid massive fraud that was mostly in his favour, urged all Afghans to vote, including those Taliban who are the sons of his country.

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The article, culled from several agencies (World Bulletin uses Reuters, AP, AFP, UPI and their own staff), states that even some preliminary election results will not be known until October 8th at best and the overall election of 249 Parliament seats won’t be made official until October 30th at the earliest.

I can’t see a single thing going wrong with any aspect of this election, can you ?

Look……. Just because there’s a few trillion dollars of newly discovered untapped mineral deposits (including thousands of tons of uranium) up for grabs in the Afghanistan’s north sector……. I mean, it’s not like there’s a problem with any peace-loving domestic Taliban or other ‘invited Muslim guests’ activities ANYWHERE in the nation……… Why worry about even one American stationed in-country having their tactical hands tied behind their backs, weapons ordered safed, no rounds chambered and please don’t hurt anyone.

Totally free and open-transparent elections are happening and everything’s great in The ‘Stan !

Sporadic rocket attacks, bombings and shootings were reported in many provinces as Nato and government forces tried to thwart insurgent threats to disrupt the day.

snip

Juma Khan, a farmer in the Marjah area of Helmand where American marines have been struggling to subdue the Taliban since February, told The Sunday Telegraph he had wanted to vote, but feared he would die. Fighters had visited his mosque a week earlier and broadcast warnings on the loudspeakers, telling locals to stay inside on polling day or be beaten up. Everyone had obeyed, he said. “They said we should boycott it because it was not Islamic and was corrupt.”